Seagate is bringing back the hybrid drive, but you have to supply the SSD
Seagate FireCuda Forge is an external HDD with a slot for a user-supplied M.2 SSD cache, starting at $700
Firefox removes data limits from its free VPN through January 2027
Firefox is temporarily removing the 50GB monthly cap on its free built-in VPN, offering unlimited browsing through January 31, 2027. The feature hides your IP address, helps prevent tracking, and adds privacy on public Wi-Fi. Available on desktop and Android in supported regions, it only requires a free Mozilla account.
Toyota is reviving Scion with a tiny Kei pickup built in Indiana
The US version is a right-hand-drive low-speed vehicle capped at 25mph, and it will be sold to fleets first
Microsoft Office is down to $29 for a lifetime license
TL;DR: If you're looking for a powerful productivity suite without paying for any monthly subscriptions, Office is now available for just $29. All the essentials you need for work or personal projects at 85% off the regular price.
DroidDeck brings Steam and PC gaming to Android without streaming
DroidDeck is a free app that lets users run Steam and compatible Windows games on Android devices. It leverages Proton and x86 translation to bring PC gaming to supported handhelds. Recent updates expand GPU compatibility, improve controller support, and introduce additional features for dual-screen devices.
Reddit "Reviews" will use AI to turn subreddit posts into product recommendations
The "front page of the internet" is becoming a shopping guide
Steam Deck now shows average frame rates for thousands of games
The feature might soon leave Steam Deck's cage to join desktop PC hardware as well
Asrock releases new Radeon GPU firmware after previous update bricked cards, offers no explanation
A new BIOS is available, but questions remain over bricked cards and warranty coverage
Caltech robot makes history by assembling first structure in orbit without astronauts
It's a first step toward much bigger builds in orbit
Flock is asking lawmakers to regulate its cameras, as long as police don't need a warrant
Flock agrees with independent audits and shorter data retention periods, but opposes warrant requirements
A radio-wave trick from the 1980s could keep fusion reactors running continuously
It finally works after four decades on the shelf
Why it matters: A fusion power plant only makes sense if it can run for days on end, much like the coal and gas plants it would replace. Most tokamaks, however, still work in bursts, because the giant magnet coil driving their plasma current eventually has to stop and reset. Physicists in San Diego have now shown that radio waves can carry some of that load instead, using a trick that every experiment in the 1980s failed to pull off.
Don't talk about Call of Duty on a plane: a FaceTime chat triggered an airport evacuation
Passenger overheard "bomb" and "explosion" from FaceTime chat while someone played on a flight
PlayStation 5 passes 100 million sales as GTA VI prepares to give it another boost
Six years after launch, Sony's console is closing in on the original PlayStation and Nintendo Wii
In a nutshell: Sony just revealed that the PlayStation 5 has officially sold more than 100 million units since its launch almost exactly six years ago. The PS5 is now just a few million units behind the seventh-place Wii and sixth-place PlayStation on the list of best-selling consoles ever, but it will likely soon outsell those machines as GTA VI's upcoming release boosts sales.
Ring unveils AI security drone that patrols your home and a robot that guards businesses
Both use AI to map a space and patrol it on their own
Uber, DoorDash, and Airbnb say almost nobody is using AI agents
Uber recorded just four AI-booked rides and 500 food orders in a week that saw 320 million transactions
AMD launches Zen 6 Epyc 9006 series with up to 256 cores, 512 threads, and TSMC N2
Pricing starts at $700 for an eight-core part, while the top chip reportedly costs $14,904
Highly anticipated: AMD has fully pulled back the curtain on its first Zen 6 CPU lineup. Debuting with Epyc server chips, the new architecture offers up to 256 cores and 512 threads at the top end, and AMD has promised substantial upgrades in AI, GPU hosting, and per-watt performance.
Ex-PlayStation boss says the next big innovation is a $300 PS5, not a $1,200 PS6
Shawn Layden says the PS6's rumored upgrades come down to more ray tracing and teraflops, gains most players won't notice
A vibe-coded GTA VI PC port is coming, whether Rockstar likes it or not
Ex-Rockstar director says GenAI is an existential threat to game developers and expects the next two years to be an inflection point for the industry
Blender 5.3 adds native Gaussian Splatting and Nvidia DLSS 4.5
Blender is bringing new upgrades to the open-source 3D creation suite, including native Gaussian Splatting for importing and rendering realistic scenes reconstructed from photos and videos. DLSS 4.5 ray reconstruction delivers faster and cleaner viewport previews. The update also improves video editing, materials, animation, and project management.
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WORLD OF WARCRAFT
WoW: Forever launched on 70,480 CPU cores and 251,136 GB RAM
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TRANSPORTATION
School buses are becoming AI-powered ticket machines
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THE SPY WHO...
The US says a businesswoman close to Nvidia's Huang was a China spy
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TECH TRIVIA
Many PCs from '80s and '90s had keyhole locks, right next to the Turbo and Reset buttons. What was it for?
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OPEN FORUM
How much is too much to spend on a GPU?
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DEAD PIXELS
Older WOLED TVs suffer from "edge rot" test finds
GTA VI is ready to pre-load, but even the PS5 Pro tops out at 30 FPS
The pricier console gets sharper visuals and ray-traced shadows instead
Something to look forward to: These days, paying extra for a PS5 Pro usually gets you a smoother version of the same game. Grand Theft Auto VI won't offer that, at least not at launch. Rockstar opened pre-loads for the game today and confirmed it targets 30 FPS on every console, Sony's pricier box included. Instead, the Pro's extra muscle is going toward sharper visuals.
Ollama makes it easy to run AI models locally for free
Ollama lets you download and run popular AI models like DeepSeek, Qwen, Gemma, and Llama directly on your PC, without subscriptions or sending your data to the cloud. Use it for chatting, coding, and other AI tasks, with support for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
AMD confirms GPU driver bug is writing data continuously, promises fix with next update
Disabling the AMD External Events Utility service is a temporary workaround
Your meditation headband may be feeding your brainwaves to an AI model
Muse maker didn't tell users it was training AI on data from some headbands, until someone asked about it
Kalshi user who lost $308,000 on sports bets sues to get back $580,000
He now argues that contracts on the prediction market are illegal online gambling
Anthropic was going to rent power for its data centers, then decided to spend $3.4 billion buying the generators
It took over another company's order to skip the wait
Microsoft patent describes paying you to train AI on your idle GPU
Users could receive store credit or advanced AI model access as compensation
France says Iran was behind supermarket refrigerator cyberattacks
Hackers remotely raised refrigeration temperatures to 122°F, spoiling food and causing at least 15 fires
Claude Code's "don't ask again" button is leaking passwords and API keys to public GitHub repos
Auto-approved commands have leaked credentials into about 1,100 repositories
Nvidia and Jensen Huang face class-action lawsuit after affair with alleged Chinese spy wipes $190 billion off company
The internet, meanwhile, is having a field day with the memes
Iomega Zip Drive: Elite Floppy Disks Before USB Sticks
With 100MB in a disk that fit in your pocket, the Zip drive was the coolest way to carry files in the 1990s. It made Iomega a Wall Street darling, until thumb drives and the click of death caught up.
Googlebooks get their first big update, freeing up 3GB to 6GB of RAM
AI memory hogging gets an early fix, plus around 30 bug fixes and patches for Android vulnerabilities
The big picture: Barely a month after the first Googlebooks went on sale, Google is rolling out their first substantial software update. The headline fix gives back memory that the laptops' own AI features had been holding onto: between 3GB and 6GB of system RAM optimizations, according to Google.
Many PCs from '80s and '90s had keyhole locks, right next to the Turbo and Reset buttons. What was it for?
Your 486 had a key. Do you remember what it was for?
AIMP is a powerful and free music player for your offline library
AIMP is a feature-rich music player for anyone who prefers local files over streaming. It supports nearly every popular audio format, with a customizable UI, advanced equalizer, and playlist management. Built-in tools for converting audio files and editing metadata make it an excellent choice for organizing and enjoying your local music collection.
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